


Dance With the Devil

by Proskenion



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Abuse, Angst, Cruciatus, Gen, Physical Abuse, Psychological Torture, Song Lyrics, Songfic, Torture
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-27
Updated: 2017-01-27
Packaged: 2018-09-20 06:06:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,629
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9478796
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Proskenion/pseuds/Proskenion
Summary: The torture of Alice and Frank Longbottom by the Lestranges and Crouch Jr. on the lyrics of Breaking Benjamin's song "Dance with the Devil. Or Alice and Frank's last goodbye.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! :)  
> I'm here again, with a new fandom ;D This is the translation of a one-shot I wrote in french some time ago, I really hope you'll like it! Please, let me know if there are very disturbing mistakes and I'll correct them. I was inspired by "Dance with the Devil" by Breaking Benjamin, the lyrics are in italic :)

I am lying on the cold floor. I don’t know exactly where I am. I don’t know if I once knew it or if I have always ignored it. I feel so weak. I know that if I am here, it is because they want information. But I don’t speak and that drive them mad. It is because of my silence that I am in so much pain. How long am I here? Alice is lying near me. She doesn’t speak either. We must hold on. Close our eyes and wait. Wait for that endless torment to finally stop.

_Close your eyes, so many days go by_

The pain is atrocious. My spirit and my will are falling apart. I open my eyes and I can barely see Crouch standing over me. He’s yelling. I stubbornly keep silent and he goes at me fiercely and unrelentingly. I know I have to say nothing. I’m not even sure to understand what they want, anyway. I think it is about Lilly and James. I don’t know. I’m in pain and the pain is about to drive me mad. I would be ready to say anything to make the pain stop, to free Alice and I. But I must keep silent. No matter how hard and painful it is, I’m just holding to that simple truth. I must keep silent. 

_Easy to find what’s wrong, harder to find what’s right_

The worst is not my own suffering. It’s Alice’s. I wish so much they would let her go. I’ve already begged so many times, but they just laughed. 

“Will you tell us what we need to hear if we let her go?” Rodolphus Lestrange had snarled. 

I could have surrendered to that, but Alice wouldn’t allow it. She was right of course, we must not surrender. Everything went worst after that. I can’t stand witnessing her pain. Her screams are like thousands knives piercing through my heart. She is strong. She keeps holding on. I let my head rolling on one side and I look at her. I try to send her strength. I try to send her my love. 

_I believe in you_

That insane Bellatrix Lestrange and her ominous husband keep tormenting her mercilessly. This is too much for me to bear. I can do nothing to help Alice and that drive me mad. Wishing with all my heart to take her out of here is useless. I can’t even drag myself. My mind gets confused. I feel like I am surrounded by some heavy fog, a chaos of sounds and sensations. And that pain always more excruciating than before is taking possession of my body. 

Like a distant echo, I can hear my wife’s voice, a voice so weak and rasping that I can barely recognize her. She sobs. She knows nothing. She doesn’t understand anything. 

“Liar!” Bellatrix yelled. “I know you’re lying! Tell me the truth!” 

_I can show you that I can see right through all your empty lies_

Alice’s screams of pain shatter me. But I’m quickly overwhelmed with pain myself. Everything disappears around me and that unspeakable pain biting every single part of my body is the only thing that remains. When it ends I can barely breathe. I guess things around me as if watching through a veil. The faces of Lestrange and Crouch above me are hazy. And then the pain is here again, more intense, full and crushing. 

_I won’t stay long in this world so wrong_

While they seem to allow me a short break and I become a bit more aware, I start to beg for it to stop. Surely they’ve hear me because I can hear them laugh. The truth suddenly hits me and it’s a cruel truth. We will never get out of here, Alice and I. That truth suffocates me. This devilish dance will never end. This is our last dance, our last farewell.

_Say goodbye as we dance with the devil tonight_

This is unbearable. I can’t imagine I won’t see Alice anymore. I can’t imagine I won’t see Neville anymore. I won’t see him grow. My son, how will he do without his mother? If only they had been together, I could have accepted my fate. But I have failed to save Alice. I have failed to save my family. Alice and I are leaving, and Neville will grow an orphan. But at least, he is safe and alive. That helps me carry on. 

I can hear Crouch voice yelling near me and I know it is going to start again. I suddenly open my eyes and I look at him. I look at him straight into his eyes with as much determination as I can, which means not much, I feel too weak. But he is driving crazy. 

“D’you see how he looks at me?” he barks. “Rabastan, d’you see? He hasn’t got enough, he wants more!” 

And with one simple word, my torture goes on. 

_Don’t you dare look at him in the eyes as we dance with the devil tonight_

The pain is like a vicious burning snake crawling under my skin. I don’t know for how long, maybe an eternity. And then, suddenly, everything stops. I’m exhausted. My head is heavy and I’m not aware of anything or anyone around me anymore. But tehn, I can hear a voice. And suddenly I’m full of fright and wrath. 

“We should have taken their son; that would have made them speak!”  
“Don’t tempt me, Rodolphus.” Bellatrix whispers.

I can hear Alice sobbing next to me. Bellatrix bursts into a demonic hysterical laugh. I feel furious and helpless. I hate those people; I hate them with all my heart. They start to understand that they won’t have anything from us, but they keep going, torturing us mercilessly. But they can do what they want now, we won’t surrender and they have lost. That is my satisfaction. 

But the simple thought they could hurt Neville drive me mad. I can hear Alice crying, she is mumbling through her tears. And the Deatheaters laugh. They laugh, and then they start yelling again, asking questions I can’t understand anymore, and the pain strikes again, again, again… 

_Trembling, crawling across my skin_

This is an endless torment. I wonder when it will truly end, when my last strength will leave my body once and for all. Lying next to me, Alice looks dead. Her head fall on one side and she looks at me. Her eyes lose their light. She won’t stay long. That’s what she’s trying to tell me. My heart hurts. The torture inflicted by the Deatheaters is nothing compare to this pain. It strikes and tears my heart and soul. 

_Feeling your cold dead eyes stealing the life of mine_

Then I sink into her eyes. She can do it. She’s strong. I love her. I love her with all my heart. Everything is going to be alright. I’m here with her. 

She winks weakly. I understand. It’s over. She thanks me for being here with her, for trying to reassure and support her. But she doesn’t believe me. She knows we’re lost. 

_I believe in you, I can show you that I can see right through all your empty lies_

She stays there, lying. She’s still, with her eyes in my eyes. I desperately cling to her eyes like if they were my own life. Until the very end, I would have contemplated her eyes. Suddenly, a veil falls on her gaze. She’s leaving. 

_I won’t last long in this world so long_

Her lips are trembling. With mine, I try to send her my love one last time. Her eyelids are closing slowly and I know that when she will open them again I will find no Alice there anymore. She is vanishing slowly. Her consciousness disappears. That was her farewell. 

_Say goodbye as we dance with the devil tonight_

The Deatheaters wrath suddenly explodes. The Lestranges go at Alice’s unconscious body mercilessly. And then, abruptly I’m thrown into that excruciating chaos once more. I’m losing myself, drowning into my own sufferings. I can hear distant yells of pain. Maybe they are my own howls but I hear them like those of someone else. 

I open my eyes, and I’m locked up in the dark. Faces, shadows are moving around me. But my eyes are attracted by a body on the floor. It’s a woman’s body strangely lying. It seems broken. Why am I hypnotized by that woman? Maybe do I know her?... Her eyes are empty. But she’s not dead; her breast is moving slowly while she breathes. Her lower lip is trembling a little. But she doesn’t move. I can’t understand why but this image shatters me. 

Four figures stands above me. They’re talking to me. They do not care about this woman; they do not even noticed her. I don’t understand their voices. I’m mesmerized by the woman’s eyes. Nothing else matters except those eyes. 

But all of a sudden everything disappears in a storm of distorted yells and unspeakable pain. 

_Don’t you dare look at him in the eyes as we dance with the devil tonight_

Something breaks inside me. When the pain stops it’s like I’m lost into a dark fog. I can see something moving around me. Everything’s so confused. A weird groan, a death rattle echoes inside my head. I want to leave, but something holds me back. 

_Hold on. Hold on._

Everything vanishes, everything falls apart. I sink into the darkness of unconsciousness. In the dark, two big bright eyes are looking at me. I know those eyes. I want to smile to those eyes. This is the last memories I take with me…

_Goodbye._


End file.
